BOHOL Gov. Edgar Chatto appealed to all Boholanos to provide information that would lead to the arrest and identification of drug and criminal personalities in the province.
“And it is not only the responsibility of the intelligence community. In fact the people from intelligence generate their information through the support of the community,” Chatto said during the Provincial Peace and Order Council meeting last Aug. 25 in Bohol.
He said that the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA-7) Director Yogi Felimon Ruiz with Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) was ready to receive any information that would lead to the resolution of issues.
He also clarified that he never issued a specific statement about having a list of narco-politicians in the province.
Chatto was referring to reports which quoted Ruiz, during an 888 News Forum a few weeks ago as saying that Chatto committed to give his support to PDEA’s anti-drug campaign “in terms of giving information kinsa ng mga suspected nato nga narco-politicians (on those we suspect to be narco-politicians) so they will be investigated, they will be verified.”
Chatto said there was a way of checking whether what Ruiz said was true.
“I am very accessible all the time. You can call my cellphone and ask (through) a text message what was the real statement,” he said.
“And no one called me, but in the banner of the newspapers is (I) see my name printed as having said a statement. There was no narco-politicians or politics that was mentioned,” Chatto said.
“It is a responsibility to give right information to the intelligence people and it is for the intelligence people — of the PNP, of the PDEA, the NBI — their responsibility to validate,” Chatto said.
If validated and found to be true, Chatto said that the law enforcers would then exercise their powers.
He also reminded the media to faithfully do their work by giving the public the right information.
“If there is doubt, ask the source because the source is just there. If our purpose is indeed honest to goodness service in public and not to mislead and not put malice in statement and the truth can always be found for the source of information,” he said.
There were some also who asked him when he will release the list of narco politicians.
He said that he did not know of any list and that he believed that some people had been trying to put into doubt the credibility of the province.